SANDMAN COVER GALLERY...

Images copyright DC COMICS

In the Winter of 1974, DC COMICS' newest superhero magazine hit the stands - The SANDMAN.  Penned by JOE SIMON and drawn by JACK KIRBY, I'm unsure whether the decision to make it a regular series came before or after the first issue debuted.  When issue #2 appeared, it was scripted by MICHAEL FLEISHER (as were all subsequent issues) and drawn by ERNIE CHUA - who used to draw under the name of Ernie CHAN.

With #4, Kirby assumed the regular art chores on the book, but it only lasted another two issues before being cancelled.  The final issue featured the inking of WALLY WOOD, but Jack's pencils were far too abstract by this time for even the magic of Wood's inking to be able to transform them in the way he had with CHALLENGERS Of The UNKNOWN back in the '50s.  There were some nice little touches here and there, but, overall, the art was unremarkable.

The first five covers were drawn by Kirby, the last by (Ditko-ish) BILL DRAUT, but none of them really qualify as memorable masterpieces of (then) modern comicbook art.  Jack was just churning it out by this time, and it wouldn't be very long before he was back freelancing for MARVEL.  However, the covers are an interesting reminder of a particular time in the history of comics-publishing, and nothing by Kirby is without merit or deserves to be ignored.